Here is the rundown on the new version release of Sage Fixed Assets, v2018. Scheduled to be available for download to current Sage Business Care customers and new purchases next week (week of Oct. 16th).

There are 4 major product enhancements to the fixed asset modules. Most of them pertain to the Depreciation module. One major update affects the Sage Fixed Asset Inventory solution that we have all been waiting for. Yes, it’s pretty darn exciting!

1. Updates to the 168 Allowance for the AMT book. You don’t have to wait until the new tax release comes out to update your AMT book to take Bonus (where applicable). This means the bulk change through the Section 168 Switch allows you to bulk change the methods on assets in the AMT book. In addition, the AMT book now follows compliance rules and updates are now defaulting to your new asset entry in the AMT depreciation book after you enter your asset in the Tax book. This is extremely helpful to those using Sage FAS for their fixed asset Tax, State, and AMT sub-ledger. Most importantly, if you have a large number of assets.

2. Import Multiple Assets. Let me point out that this is for the Images tab – you could always import multiple assets into your Sage Fixed Asset solution. With version 2018 you can now add multi images at once, and link to multiple assets at one time. Now more simplified. Much better workflow when ‘attaching’ images and PDF documents into the depreciation system. In all versions leading up to v2018, you had to attach one at a time and the management was a bit extraneous. A perfect solution for invoice attachments that have multiple assets on it.

3. Display ‘Depreciation This Run’ information in the Asset List and Asset Detail screens. This means you don’t have to run the Depreciation Expense report to obtain this information. Keep in mind, however, this is only for your current reporting period. Great for time and efficiency when analyzing your data – without having to process a report.

Have you installed v2017.1? This new enhancement will make much more sense if you have. In v2017.1 you were given the ability to ‘manage’ your Asset List View by adding book information! One book at a time, but you have to start somewhere! This is an INCREDIBLE product enhancement in the Depreciation module. I myself, use it all the time when processing client data.

4. Sage Fixed Asset Inventory – the use of Mobile Apps technology for bar code scanning! Can Sage get a hip-hip-hooray!? This means that you, as a customer, no longer have to purchase expensive and heavy bar code scanning equipment to conduct your physical inventories. Works with Android tablet or phone ONLY (for now). No release date for iPhone support, yet. This is critical for those with multi-locations or international locations because transferring of data and equipment to conduct inventories is no longer needed or a challenge! One other amazing revelation – you no longer have to connect to the laptop to ‘sych’ data when using your Mobile technology!

NOTE: It is recommended that in more rugged environments, you should still utilize the more industrial scanning equipment. For example, phones break when dropped on a warehouse floor or from 20 feet up.

I give kudos to Sage Software’s Fixed Assets new upcoming release of v2018. I look forward to the enhancements to come, and their continued efforts to keep one of the best fixed asset management solutions out there alive and current.

More information on the Sage Fixed Asset solutions and services provided, visit us at Fixed Asset Software.

It’s that time of the year again when companies (large and small) are just starting to think about their year-end processes (or just finished with them and their Auditors) when fixed assets come into play. Property tax season is now coming upon us all and shortly thereafter… tax filing.

When getting ready to prepare for this type of fixed asset management project, people tend to have a mini (or large) freak out. I want to remind you all that you don’t have to bite off more than you (and your budget) can chew. Have you ever thought about breaking your project out into prioritized phases? Below is an example of the kind of a approach you can take to complete your full fixed asset management project.

Real World Example

Background: Company XYZ is a large fortune 500, multi-location, publicly traded company. They have well over 50,000 assets within the U.S.Current Issues they are facing:

No automated system to calculate their TAX, State and AMT depreciation calculations = hand calculated (spreadsheet formulas) and delayed filing and delayed provisions. (P.S. they are using an ERP solution)

Inaccurate fixed asset listings – due to never performing a physical asset inventory or reconciliation = leads to inaccurate:

Property Taxes and delayed filing

Improper insurance coverage

Financial reporting

SOX 404 Compliance risk

Multiple locations that need an inventory with bar code tagging = thoughts of many, many dollars run through their minds.

Recommendations to perform an ACCURATE and MANAGEABLE fixed asset project.

Priorities for this Client were to get their federal Tax, State and AMT calculations automated. We based their project off of this high priority.

PHASE ONE: Implement an automated fixed asset accounting solution (Sage FAS 500 Asset Accounting was used). Finalize this project implementation, work through the data and get it live for use. Ran their 4562’s, 4797’s, etc. Receive an immediate return on the software and implementation costs.

PHASE TWO: Start to roll out the physical asset inventory project through a pilot program. Starting small — prioritized the PILOT by number of anticipated fixed assets and activity. Finalize and reconcile this data to observe the findings and obtain an immediate cost recovery on project.

PHASE THREE: Perform the physical inventory on the other locations that were necessary – again, based on priority. Reconcile results – find and capture the return on investment by property tax savings and insurance premiums.

PHASE FOUR: Implementation of an automated fixed asset inventory solution that supports the use of bar code readers / technology (Sage FAS 500 Asset Inventory was the solution of choice). Now the Client can maintain the clean database and keep it maintained with annual physical inventory audits, etc.

PHASE FIVE: Consulting on on-going use / maintenance of the fixed asset solutions and complete management. Set in place policies/procedures and train staff on the workflow and systems where necessary.

Working with a Phase approach to fixed asset management works to keep it manageable. Not only is it manageable for your staff and your business… it’s also manageable for your budget, as each phase pays for itself at the end. Every step of success opens doors for more.

EUGENE, OREGON – September 06, 2017 – Fixed Asset Consulting, LLC, a firm led by nationally recognized fixed asset expert Angie Chase (formerly Bolton-Lyons), has announced the launch of AssetFlow. AssetFlow is a web portal for companies with multiple offices and users that want to simplify and take control of their fixed asset management process. The web-based platform allows customers to continue using their existing on-premises asset accounting software while leveraging a web portal to view, manage, and consolidate their data in a single, centralized location. The AssetFlow portal is now live and available to customers on a subscription basis.

Critical Field Updater: Sybase Version Now Available

After years of internal use and some serious client testing, a new version of FAC’s CFU is available with additional functionality and now includes a Standard (Sybase) version of the Sage Fixed Assets depreciation solution. This means that clients no longer have to use the Premier SQL version in order to benefit from the CFU.

Added Functionality Includes:

Automatic import of your data sheet once selected through the browse function

Only assets with ‘errors’ are flagged with in red after validation process

Support email link exists for quick support

Additional customization is available

Ability to edit data within the user interface

Updated to work with v2017.1 of the Sage Fixed Asset Depreciation products

This utility allows the end-users the capability to update depreciation fields across all or selected depreciation books, globally.

Contact us for more information or questions @ (541) 338-7898.

NOTE: This product is only supported through Fixed Asset Consulting, Llc; where developed.

https://fixedassetconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/fac-fav-1-80x80.png00angiehttps://fixedassetconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/fac-fav-1-80x80.pngangie2017-05-23 11:47:162017-05-23 11:47:16Critical Field Updater Now Available for Standard (Sybase)

Sage Fixed Assets 2016.1 also introduces a new user management system for customers with multiple licenses, which enables them to easily activate and deactivate users from one central interface. This will not only help these customers to manage their users better, it also ensure that only authorized users can access the system. This feature applies to Depreciation and Tracking (Network and Premier versions). Single user systems are not affected by this change.

Additional Depreciation Enhancements:

The Placed-in-service Date and Disposal Date have been added to the Disposal Worksheet. To see the change on an existing disposal:

On the Asset Detail view of the Disposed Asset, go to the Transactions tab, and click View Transaction.

On the Asset Disposal dialog, the Disposal Worksheet button will be available at the bottom.

FAS Version Data Woes

If you are on version 2010, v2011 or even FAS version release 2001 (don’t laugh, I just had one) – no need to worry, you have a couple choice.

Version by Version Install: If you can find all of your old CD’s/DVDs, etc. (sorry, floppys wont work anymore) you can take your data through version to version. You can’t skip too many versions between because the data schema has changed. So before you go doing this, make sure you have them all.

NOTE: Sage Fixed Assets division is only supporting v2012.1. This means that this in the only version currently available for download on the Support Center.

Export it all Out: you can export all of your data out, book by book, then import it back into a brand new company in the newly installed version of SFAS (currently v2014.1 as of 09/09/2014 posting).

NOTE: you will need to perform a little formatting on the data in order to import it back into SFAS.

Data Schema Upgrade Services: available from Fixed Asset Consulting, LLC at a reasonable rate. You will need one of the following for data schema upgrades: a recent .zip or SFAS .bbk (proprietary backup within the Sage Fixed Asset application) or – if you can’t open your old version of Sage Fixed Assets, you can zip up the database files.

NOTE: there are three data files that support an old SFAS database: .db; .log; .sav

If you are choosing either Export it all Out or Data Schema Upgrade Services – the best and cleanest way to install the latest version of SFAS you will want to completely uninstall your current old version from every workstation and/or server. Then perform a clean install of the latest version. If you don’t, the SFAS will find the old files and ‘think’ that you are still stuck in the old version – then the new one will not open.

Upgrading to Sage Fixed Assets 2014.1

April 2014

The 2014.1 version of Sage Fixed Assets comes with new and exciting features that are guaranteed to make managing assets much easier. In addition to yearly tax updates that make sure that all tax rules and reports regarding depreciation are up to date, the 2014.1 version of Sage Fixed Assets has additional components that increase productivity. Before upgrading to 2014.1 however there are steps that need to be completed in order to make the transition to 2014.1 a quick and painless one.

The first step is to make sure that the current version of Sage Fixed Assets installed is version 2013.1. If the version currently installed is 2013.1. Although there is no database conversion during the upgrade, the install of 2014.1 will not proceed if there is a version prior to 2013.1 installed. The 2013.1 version of Sage Fixed Assets and instructions for upgrading can be downloaded by logging on to the customer portal athttp://customers.sagenorthamerica.com.

Once the current running version of Sage Fixed Assets has been verified, the next step is to make sure that depreciation has been properly run and that there is a Depreciation Expense report that ties properly with the general ledger. The report should either be printed out or exported to a file. This allows a comparison between the two versions after the upgrade incase there are some perceived discrepancies. An optional step is to do a Period Close which is a feature in Sage Fixed Assets that allows the freezing of the Current Year to Date and Current Accumulated Depreciation for a specified period.

Prior to upgrading to any version of Sage Fixed Assets, it is always a good idea to backup any fixed assets related data. Sage Fixed Assets has an inbuilt backup feature that will create a file that contains all the company data. If necessary, the backup files can then be used to create an exact duplicate of the companies in a new database. This insures the data is completely protected during the upgrade to 2014.1.

One of the differences between the 2014.1 upgrade and past updates of Sage Fixed Assets is that the Report Writer has also been upgraded to a newer version. If the Report Writer is being utilized in the current install, the new version of Report Writer must be downloaded and installed.

Once the steps above are completed then upgrading to 2014.1 should be a smooth one. For additional information or questions that may arise, Sage Fixed Assets technical support can be contacted by calling 800-331-8514 or can via email at fixedassetssupport@sage.com.

SAP Fixed Assets Tax Depreciation – Theres A Cure

Being in the fixed asset space for more than 16 years, I’ve seen a lot of challenges with fixed assets and how to get integration to just ‘work’ and not break every time there is a new version change to either systems.

In addition, large ERP solutions lack on federal Tax, AMT and State depreciation needs; especially when legislation changes are made.

The Sage Fixed Asset Depreciation (formerly Sage FAS) does a fantastic job at tackling those federal tax calculations as well as other major challenges ERP fixed asset modules lack:

Multi-search capabilities – more than just an SAP Main #, but wild card characters, easy queries for every field in Sage FAS

Cost ADJUSTMENT true-ups – sure you can change the cost, but the system doesn’t true up that calculation leaving your asset either under or over depreciated at the end of its useful life

Tax forms and worksheets

Mid-quarter testing and calculation switches

the list goes on…

Trouble is and has always been – if an organization still insists on using SAP fixed assets for internal GAAP depreciation, getting the data out of SAP and into FAS can be a total nightmare. Disposals and processing adjustments or 3115 changes can be a manual process and take a lot of time – not to mention room for human error.

Digging in deep and rolling up our sleeves here at FAC, LLC we’ve come up with a handful of utilities to assist with this process. The best benefits? Automated. Error proof. Doesn’t break when there are version releases to SAP or Sage Fixed Assets.

Finally a solution for large companies with a lot of fixed assets and a lot of activities.